2 charged in murder of editor plead not guilty

OAKLAND, Calif. 
Two men charged in the murder of an Oakland journalist pleaded not guilty Thursday as a judge ordered the release of hundreds of pages of previously sealed grand jury testimony and lifted a gag order.

Yusuf Bey IV and Antoine Mackey both entered their pleas to first-degree murder charges in Alameda County Superior Court in the shooting of Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey in August 2007.

The two men were indicted on the charges in April.

Bey, a former leader of the once-influential Your Black Muslim Bakery, is accused of ordering the killings of Bailey and two other men. Mackey is suspected of being the getaway driver after Bailey was fatally gunned down in downtown Oakland.

Bailey had been investigating the bakery's finances.

Founded almost 40 years ago by Bey's father, the bakery became an institution in Oakland's black community, also running a security service, school and other businesses.

But the group became marred by connections to criminal activity.

Thursday, Judge Morris Jacobson said he will release transcripts of grand jury testimony in the case as well as lift a provisional gag order.

The decision was seen as a victory for the Chauncey Bailey Project, a group of investigative journalists who have written stories the killing.

The award-winning group had sought the release of the 800-page transcript, which includes testimony from more than a dozen witnesses, and the lifting of the gag order.

"It's a great day for the First Amendment and the public's right to know," Martin G. Reynolds, editor of the Oakland Tribune, said about the decisions.

Mackey's lawyer, Gary Sirbu, had requested that parts of the grand jury testimony be redacted, Releasing the documents will show a one-sided picture of the case since there was no cross-examination by defense attorneys, he said.

"I didn't agree with it," Sirbu said.

The unsealed documents will include testimony from former bakery handyman Devaughndre Broussard, who pleaded guilty in May to two lesser counts of voluntary manslaughter in the attacks on Bailey and another man in exchange for his testimony against Bey and Mackey.

Sirbu tried to get Jacobson to agree to a proposed court advisory written by Sirbu cautioning that "members of the public should not jump to conclusion regarding the strength of the case against the defendants."

Jacobson swiftly rejected the proposal.

"What you need to say to the press is that my client is not guilty," Jacobson told Sirbu and Bey's two lawyers, Anne Beles and Lorna Brown.

Jacobson said he lifted the gag order because the case hadn't drawn "a circus-like atmosphere." Still, all the lawyers involved in the case said Thursday they will continue to not talk to the media about the case.

Jacobson also told the lawyers he hopes a trial can take place in early 2010. Prosecutors have said they won't seek the death penalty.